Sidney Crosby first left winger in Sochi is a guy he knows. His right winger is at least a bit more of a surprise.

Crosby skated with teammate Chris Kunitz and Jeff Carter of the LA Kings on Monday afternoon. Kunitz, wisely or not, is on the team largely to play with Crosby . Carter was as close to a surprise inclusion as you could get — though he's still one of the best goal-scorers in the league and, importantly, a right-handed shot, which Crosby prefers on the right wing. Steven Stamkos would've been in that position, but that, of course, did not work out .

Sharp and Toews are too good together to pass up. Tavares is a natural center, but someone was going to have to make a shift, and putting him with Getzlaf and Perry will be a blast.

Patrice Bergeron, Martin St. Louis, Jamie Benn, Matt Duchene and Patrick Marleau are the other five forwards.

Defensive pairings:

Duncan Keith-Shea Weber

Marc-Edouard Vlasic-Drew Doughty

Jay Bouwmeester-Alex Pietrangelo

No surprises here. Bowmeester and Pietrangelo are teammates, and Vlasic will allow Doughty to take more risks. This means P.K. Subban, for the time being, profiles as a spare. Dan Hamhuis was dealing with an injury before heading to Sochi.